 CHAPTER 23 Then Paul, fixing a steady gaze on the Sanhedrin, said, Brethren, it is with a perfectly clear conscience that I have discharged my duties before God up to this day. On hearing this the High Priest Ananias ordered those who were standing near Paul to strike him on the mouth. Before long exclaimed Paul, God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! Are you sitting there to judge me in accordance with the law, and do you yourself actually break the law by ordering me to be struck? Do you rail at God's High Priest? cried the man who stood by him. I did not know, brethren, replied Paul, that he was the High Priest, for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of a ruler of thy people. Noticing, however, that the Sanhedrin consisted partly of Sadducees and partly of Pharisees, he called out loudly among them. Brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of Pharisees. It is because of my hope of a resurrection of the dead that I am on my trial. These words of his caused an angry dispute between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly took different sides, for the Sadducees maintained that there is no resurrection and neither angel nor spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledged the existence of both. So there arose a great uproar, and some of the scribes belonging to the sect of the Pharisees sprang to their feet, and fiercely contended, saying, We find no harm in the man, what if a spirit has spoken to him or an angel? But when the struggle was becoming violent, the tribune, fearing that Paul would be torn to pieces by the people, ordered the troops to go down and take him from among them by force and bring him into the barracks. The following night the Lord came and stood at Paul's side, and said, Be of good courage, for as you have borne faithful witness about me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome. Now when daylight came, the Jews formed a conspiracy, and solemnly swore not to eat or drink till they had killed Paul. There were more than forty of them who bound themselves by this oath. They went to the high priests and elders, and said to them, We have bound ourselves under a heavy curse to take no food till we have killed Paul. Now therefore you and the Sanhedrin should make representations to the tribune for him to bring him down to you, under the impression that you intend to inquire more minutely about him, and we are prepared to assassinate him before he comes near the place. But Paul's sister's son heard of the intended attack upon him, so he came and went into the barracks and told Paul about it, and Paul called one of the captains and said, Take this young man to the tribune, for he has information to give him. So he took him and brought him to the tribune, and said, Paul the prisoner called me to him and begged me to bring this youth to you, because he has something to say to you. Then the tribune, taking him by the arm, withdrew out of the hearing of others, and asked him, What have you to tell me? The Jews, he replied, have agreed to request you to bring Paul down to the Sanhedrin to-morrow for the purpose of making yourself more accurately acquainted with the case. I beg you not to comply, for more than forty men among them are lying in wait for him who have solemnly vowed that they will neither eat nor drink till they have assassinated him, and even now they are ready in anticipation of receiving that promise of you. So the tribune sent the youth home, cautioning him, Do not let anyone know that you have given me this information, he said. Then calling to him two of the captains, he gave his orders. Get ready, two hundred men, he said, to march to Caesarea, with seventy cavalry, and two hundred light infantry, starting at nine o'clock to-night. He further told them to provide horses to mount Paul on, so as to bring him safely to Felix the governor. He also wrote a letter of which these were the contents. Claudius Lyceus to his Excellency Felix the governor, all good wishes. This man Paul had been seized by the Jews, and they were on the point of killing him when I came upon them with the troops and rescued him, for I had been informed that he was a Roman citizen. And wishing to know with certainty the offence of which they were accusing him, I brought him down into their Sanhedrin, and I discovered that the charge had to do with questions of their law, but that he was accused of nothing for which he deserves death or imprisonment. But now that I have received information of an intended attack upon him, I immediately send him to you, directing his accusers also to state before you the case they have against him. So in obedience to their orders the soldiers took Paul and brought him by night as far as Antipatris. The next day the infantry returned to the barracks, leaving the cavalry to proceed with him. And the cavalry having reached Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they brought Paul also to him. Felix, after reading the letter inquired from what province he was, and being told, from Cilicia, he said, I will hear all you have to say when your accusers also have come. And he ordered him to be detained in custody in Herod's palace. CHAPTER XXIV Five days after this, Ananias the High Priest came down to Caesarea with a number of elders and a pleader called Tertullus. They stated to the governor the case against Paul. So Paul was sent for, and Tertullus began to impeach him as follows. Indebted as we are, he said, to you, most noble Felix, for the perfect peace which we enjoy, and for reforms which your wisdom has introduced to this nation, in every instance and in every place we accept them with profound gratitude. Not to detain you too long, I beg you in your forbearance to listen to a brief statement from us. For we have found this man Paul a source of mischief and a disturber of the peace among all the Jews throughout the empire, and a ringleader in the heresy of the Nazarenes. He even attempted to profane the temple, but we arrested him. You, however, by examining him, will yourself be able to learn the truth as to all this which we allege against him. The Jews also joined in the charge, maintaining that these were facts. Then at a sign from the governor, Paul answered, knowing, sir, that for many years you have administered justice to this nation, I cheerfully make my defense, for you have it in your power to ascertain that it is not more than twelve days ago that I went up to worship in Jerusalem, and that neither in the temple nor in the synagogues, nor anywhere in the city, did they find me disputing with any opponent or collecting a crowd about me, nor can they prove the charges which they are now bringing against me. But this I confess to you, that in the way which they style a heresy, I worship the God of our forefathers, believing everything that is taught in the law or is written in the prophets, and having a hope directed towards God which my accusers themselves also entertain, that before long there will be a resurrection, both of the righteous and the unrighteous. This too is my own earnest endeavor, always to have a clear conscience in relation to God and man. Now after an interval of several years I came to bring alms to my nation and to offer sacrifices. While I was busy about these, they found me in the temple purified with no crowd around me and no uproar. But there were certain Jews from the province of Asia. They ought to have been here before you and to have been my prosecutors if they have any charge to bring against me, or let these men themselves say what misdemeanor they found me guilty of when I stood before the Sanhedrin, unless it was in that one expression which I made use of when I shouted out as I stood among them, the resurrection of the dead is the thing about which I am on my trial before you today. At this point Felix, who was fairly well informed about the new faith, adjourned the trial saying to the Jews, When the Tribune Lyceus comes down, I will enter carefully into the matter. And he gave orders to the captain that Paul was to be kept in custody, but be treated with indulgence, and that his personal friends were not to be prevented from showing him kindness. Not long after this Felix came in with Drusilla, his wife, a Jewess, and sending for Paul listened to him as he spoke about faith in Christ Jesus. But when he dealt with the subjects of justice, self-control, and the judgment which was soon to come, Felix became alarmed and said, For the present leave me, and when I can find a convenient opportunity I will send for you. At the same time he hoped that Paul would give him money, and for this reason he sent for him the offener to converse with him. But after the lapse of fully two years, Felix was succeeded by Porceus Festus, and being desirous of gratifying the Jews, Felix left Paul still in prison. CHAPTER XXV Festus, having entered on his duties as Governor of the Province, two days later went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem. The high priests and the leading men among the Jews immediately made representations to him against Paul, and begged him, asking it as a favor to Paul's prejudice, to have him brought to Jerusalem. They were planning an ambush to kill him on the way. Festus, however, replied that Paul was in custody in Caesarea, and that he was himself going there very soon. Therefore let those of you, he said, who can come, go down with me, and impeach the man if there is anything amiss in him. After a stay of eight or ten days in Jerusalem, not more, he went down to Caesarea, and the next day, taking his seat on the tribunal, he ordered Paul to be brought in. Upon Paul's arrival the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood round him, and brought many grave charges against him which they were unable to substantiate. But in reply Paul said, Neither against the Jewish law, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar, have I committed any offense whatever. Then Festus, being anxious to gratify the Jews, asked Paul, Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and there stand your trial before me on these charges? I am standing before Caesar's tribunal, replied Paul, where alone I ought to be tried. The Jews have no real ground of complaint against me, as in fact you yourself are beginning to see more clearly. If however I have done wrong and have committed any offense for which I deserve to die, I do not ask to be excused that penalty. But if there is no truth in what these men allege against me, no one has the right to give me up to them as a favour. I appeal to Caesar. Then after conferring with the council Festus replied, To Caesar you have appealed. To Caesar you shall go. A short time after this a grip of the king and Bernice came to Caesarea to pay a complementary visit to Festus, and during their rather longs day Festus laid Paul's case before the king. There is a man here, he said, whom Felix left a prisoner about whom when I went to Jerusalem the high priests and the elders of the Jews made representations to me begging that sentence might be pronounced against him. My reply was that it is not the custom among the Romans to give up anyone for punishment before the accused has had his accusers face to face, and has had an opportunity of defending himself against the charge which has been brought against him. When therefore a number of them came here the next day, I took my seat on the tribunal without any loss of time, and ordered the man to be brought in. But when his accusers stood up they did not charge him with the misdemeanors of which I had been suspecting him, but they quarreled with him about certain matters connected with their own religion and about one Jesus who had died but, so Paul persistently maintained, is now alive. I was at a loss how to investigate such questions and asked Paul whether he would care to go to Jerusalem and there stand his trial on these matters, but when Paul appealed to have his case kept for the emperor's decision I ordered him to be kept in prison until I could send him up to Caesar. I should like to hear the man myself, said Agrippa. Tomorrow, replied Festus, you shall. Accordingly the next day Agrippa and Bernice came in state and took their seats in the judgment hall, attended by the tribunes and the men of high rank in the city, and at the command of Festus Paul was brought in. When Festus said, King Agrippa and all who are present with us, you see here the man about whom the whole nation of the Jews made suit to me, both in Jerusalem and here, crying out that he ought not to live any longer. I could not discover that he had done anything for which he deserved to die, but as he has himself appealed to the emperor I have decided to send him to Rome. I have nothing very definite, however, to tell our sovereign about him. So I have brought the man before you all, and especially before you, King Agrippa, that after he has been examined I may find something which I can put into writing, for when sending a prisoner to Rome it seems to me to be absurd not to state the charges against him. CHAPTER XXVI Then Agrippa said to Paul, you have permission to speak about yourself. So Paul with outstretched arm proceeded to make his defence. As regards all the accusations brought against me by the Jews, he said, I think myself fortunate, King Agrippa, in being about to defend myself today before you, who are so familiar with all the customs and speculations that prevail among the Jews, and for this reason I pray you, give me a patient hearing. The kind of life I have lived from my youth upwards as exemplified in my early days among my nation and in Jerusalem is known to all the Jews, for they all knew me of old, if they would but testify to the fact, how, being an adherent of the strictest sect of our religion, my life was that of a Pharisee, and now I stand here impeached because of my hope in the fulfilment of the promise made by God to our forefathers, the promise which our twelve tribes were shipping day and night with intense devotedness, hope to have made good to them. It is on the subject of this hope, sir, that I am accused by the Jews. Why is it deemed with all of you a thing past belief if God raises the dead to life? I myself, however, thought it a duty to do many things in hostility to the name of Jesus, the Nazarene, and that was how I acted in Jerusalem. Armed with authority received from the high priests, I shut up many of God's people in various prisons, and when they were about to be put to death, I gave my vote against them. In all the synagogues also I punished them many a time and tried to make them blaspheme, and in my wild fury I chased them even to foreign towns. While thus engaged, I was travelling one day to Damascus, armed with authority and a commission from the high priests, and on the journey, at noon, sir, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the brightness of the sun, shining around me and around those who were travelling with me. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice which said to me in Hebrew, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? You are finding it painful to kick against the ox-goad. Who art thou, Lord? I asked. I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, the Lord replied. But rise and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for the very purpose of appointing you my servant and my witness, both as to the things you have already seen and as to those in which I will appear to you. I will save you from the Jewish people and from the Gentiles, to whom I send you to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the obedience to Satan to God, in order to receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified through faith in me. Therefore, King Eccrypha, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but I proceeded to preach first to the people in Damascus, and then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea and to the Gentiles that they must repent and turn to God and live lives consistent with such repentance. It was on this account that the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. Having however obtained the help which is from God, I have stood firm until now and have solemnly exhorted rich and poor alike, saying nothing except what the prophets and Moses predicted as soon to happen, since the Christ was to be a suffering Christ, and by coming back from the dead was then to be the first to proclaim a message of light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. As Paul thus made his defense, Festus exclaimed in a loud voice, You are raving mad, Paul, and great learning is driving you mad. I am not mad, most noble Festus, replied Paul. I am speaking words of super-truth, for the king to whom I speak freely knows about these matters. I am not to be persuaded that any detail of them has escaped his notice, for these things have not been done in a corner. King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe them. Agrippa answered, In brief you are doing your best to persuade me to become a Christian. My prayer to you, whether briefly or at length, replied Paul, would be that not only you but all who are my hearers today might become such as I am, except these chains. So the king rose and the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them, and having withdrawn they talked to one another and said, This man is doing nothing for which he deserves death or imprisonment, and Agrippa said to Festus, He might have been set at liberty if he had not appealed to Caesar. Now when it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they handed over Paul and a few other prisoners into the custody of Julius, a captain of the Augustan battalion, and going on board a ship of Adramitium which was about to sail to the ports of the province of Asia, we put to sea, Aristarchus, the Macedonian from Thessalonica, forming one of our party. The next day we put in at Sidon. There Julius treated Paul with thoughtful kindness and allowed him to visit his friends and profit by their generous care. Putting to sea again we sailed under the lee of Cyprus, because the winds were against us, and sailing the whole length of the sea that lies off Cilicia and Pamphylia we reached Myra in Lycia. There Julius found an Alexandrian ship bound for Italy, and put us on board of her. It took several days of slow sailing for us to come with difficulty off Nytus, from which point as the wind did not allow us to get on in the direct course we ran under the lee of Crete by Salmoni. Then coasting along with difficulty we reached a place called Fair Havens, near the town of Lycia. Our voyage thus far had occupied a considerable time, and the navigation being now unsafe and the fast also already over, Paul warned them. Sirs, he said, I perceive that before long the voyage will be attended with danger and heavy loss, not only to the cargo and the ship, but to our own lives also. But Julius let himself be persuaded by the pilot and by the owner, rather than by Paul's arguments, and as the harbor was inconvenient for wintering in, the majority were in favor of putting out to sea to try whether they could get to Phoenix, a harbor on the coast of Crete facing northeast and southeast, to winter there, and a light breeze from the south spring up, so that they supposed they were now sure of their purpose. So weighing anchor they ran along the coast of Crete, hugging the shore. But it was not long before a furious northeast wind coming down from the mountains burst upon us and carried the ship out of her course. She was unable to make headway against the gale, so we gave up and let her drive. Then we ran under the lee of a little island called Cauda, where we managed with great difficulty to secure the boat, and after hoisting it on board they used frapping cables to undergird the ship, and as they were afraid of being driven on the certis quicksands, they lowered the gear and lay too. But as the storm was still violent, the next day they began to lighten the ship, and on the third day with their own hands they threw the ship's spare gear overboard. Then when for several days neither sun nor stars were seen and the terrific gale still harassed us, the last ray of hope was now vanishing. When for a long time they had taken but little food, Paul, standing up among them, said, Sirs, you ought to have listened to me and not have sailed from Crete. You would then have escaped this suffering and loss. But now take courage, for there will be no destruction of life among you but of the ship only. For there stood by my side last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom also I worship. And he said, Dismiss all fear, Paul, for you must stand before Caesar, and God has granted you the lives of all who are sailing with you. Therefore, sirs, take courage, for I believe God and am convinced that things will happen exactly as I have been told, that we are to be stranded on a certain island. It was now the fourteenth night and we were drifting through the Sea of Adria when, about midnight, the sailors suspected that land was close at hand. So they hove the lead and found twenty fathoms of water, and after a short time they hove again and found fifteen fathoms. Then for fear of possibly running on rocks, they threw out four anchors from the stern and waited impatiently for daylight. The sailors, however, wanted to make their escape from the ship and had lowered the boat into the sea, pretending that they were going to lay out anchors from the bow. But Paul, addressing Julius and the soldiers, said, their lives will be sacrificed unless these men remain on board. Then the soldiers cut the ropes of the ship's boat and let her fall off, and continually, up till daybreak, Paul kept urging all on board to take some food. This is the fourteenth day, he said, that you have been anxiously waiting for the storm to cease and have fasted, eating little or nothing. I therefore strongly advise you to take some food. This is essential for your safety, for not a hair will perish from the head of any one of you. Having said this he took some bread, and, after giving thanks to God for it before them all, he broke it in pieces and began to eat it. This raised the spirits of all, and they too took food. There were two hundred seventy-six of us, crew and passengers, all told. After eating a hearty meal they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat overboard. When daylight came they tried in vain to recognize the coast, but an inlet with a sandy beach attracted their attention, and now their object was, if possible, to run the ship aground in this inlet. So they cut away the anchors and left them in the sea, unloosing at the same time the bands which secured the paddle rudders. Then, hoisting the foresail to the wind, they made for the beach. But coming to a place where two seas met, they stranded the ship, and her bow sticking fast remained immovable, while the stern began to go to pieces under the heavy hammering of the sea. So the soldiers recommended that the prisoners should be killed, for fear some of them might swim ashore and affect his escape. But their captain, bent on securing Paul's safety, kept them from their purpose, and gave orders that those who could swim should first jump overboard and get to land, and that the rest should follow, some on planks and others on various things from the ship. In this way they all got safely to land. CHAPTER XXVIII For our lives, having been thus preserved, we discovered that the island was called Malta. The strange-speaking natives showed us remarkable kindness, for they lighted a fire and made us all welcome because of the pelting rain and the cold. Now when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and had thrown them on the fire, a viper, driven by the heat, came out and fastened itself on his hand. When the natives saw the creature hanging to his hand, they said to one another, Beyond doubt this man is a murderer, for though saved from the sea, unerring justice does not permit him to live. He however shook the reptile off into the fire and was unhurt. They expected him soon to swell with inflammation or suddenly fall down dead. But after waiting a long time and seeing no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god. Now in the same part of the island there were estates belonging to the governor, whose name was Publius. He welcomed us to his house and for three days generously made us his guests. It happened however that his father was lying ill of dysentery, aggravated by attacks of fever. So Paul went to see him and, after praying, laid his hands on him and cured him. After this all the other sick people in the island came and were cured. They also loaded us with honors and when at last we sailed they put supplies on board for us. Three months passed before we set sail in an Alexandrian vessel called the Twin Brothers, which had wintered at the island. At Syracuse we put in and stayed for two days. From there we came round and reached Regium, and a day later a south wind sprang up which brought us by the evening of the next day to Putiolae. Here we found brethren who invited us to remain with them for a week, and so we reached Rome. Meanwhile the brethren there, hearing of our movements, came as far as the market of Apius and the three Hutts to meet us, and when Paul saw them he thanked God and felt encouraged. Upon our arrival in Rome Paul received permission to live by himself, guarded by a soldier. After one complete day he invited the leading men among the Jews to meet him, and when they were come together he said to them, As for me brethren, although I had done nothing prejudicial to our people or contrary to the customs of our forefathers, I was handed over as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the power of the Romans. They, after they had sharply questioned me, were willing to set me at liberty, because they found no offense in me for which I deserved to die. But at last the opposition of the Jews compelled me to appeal to Caesar, not however that I had any charge to bring against my nation. For these reasons then I have invited you here, that I might see you and speak to you, for it is for the sake of him who is the hope of Israel that this chain hangs upon me. For our part, they replied, we have not received any letters from Judea about you, nor have any of our countrymen come here and reported our stated anything to your disadvantage, but we should be glad to hear from you what it is that you believe. For as for this sect all we know is that it is everywhere spoken against. So they arranged a day with him and came to him in considerable numbers at the house of the friends who were entertaining him. And then with solemn earnestness he explained to them the subject of the kingdom of God, endeavoring from morning till evening to convince them about Jesus, both from the law of Moses and from the prophets. Some were convinced, others refused to believe. Unable to agree among themselves, they at last left him, but not before Paul had spoken a parting word to them, saying, Right well did the Holy Spirit say to your forefathers through the prophet Isaiah, go to this people and tell them you will hear and hear and by no means understand, and will look and look and by no means see. For this people's mind has grown callous, their hearing has become dull, and their eyes they have closed to prevent their ever seeing with their eyes or hearing with their ears or understanding with their minds and turning back so that I might cure them. Be fully assured therefore that this salvation, God's salvation, has now been sent to the Gentiles and that they at any rate will give heed. After this, Paul lived for fully two years in a hired house of his own, receiving all who came to see him. He announced the coming of the kingdom of God, and taught concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, without let or hindrance. Amen. The end of chapters twenty-three through twenty-eight, and the end of the book of the Acts of the Apostles, translated by Richard Francis Weymouth. Recording by Mark Penfold.